Rye Adelina Penner

Rye Adelina Penner

On Monday April 17th our sweet and teeny tiny Rye Adelina was born! I was 3 days overdue and was very antsy to meet our second daughter. Out of no where around 4 am I started feeling contractions and headed to the hospital 3 hours later. This time around my delivery was quicker and much more intense in the last few hours than I remembered it being with Oakland. But alas at 1:41 pm she finally joined us!

Rye Adelina Penner was born a whopping 6 lbs 4 oz. She left the hospital at under 6 lbs so she’s literally miniature. She’s also determined to maintain her fetal position so she slightly resembles a curled up armadillo at this point. We’re not even sure if she has arms or legs really. She does however have massive feet, like ski’s. We hope she grows into them but we will love her either way.

Oakland was pretty excited when she first saw Rye, asking right away to hold her. Giving her lots of hugs and kisses. The meltdown started the minute we took Rye out of her hands. Leading up to Rye’s birth, we kept telling Oakland we were getting her “her own baby sister” in hopes she would feel like Rye was a gift of sorts and not this new life taking away attention from her. It seemed to have worked but alternatively has also made Oakland a little possessive of her. So we are working on that.

So far the past 2 weeks have been a big adjustment for all of us. Having 2 babies 16 months apart comes with it’s own set of challenges. Oakland isn’t quite self sufficient enough to not die in a parking lot so I need to have her on my hip and the carseat on my other arm while I hobble into Starbucks for my caffeine fix to get me through the day. Thankfully Devon and I come from big families who are almost all just a 10 minute drive from us so we have had so much help! Which is hard for me to admit because I know there are plenty of moms out there who somehow manage and have to do it on their own. I don’t know what state I would currently be in without them. They’ve brought meals, helped with Rye and have taken Oakland out on adventures so she can burn all her energy. It’s made me realize just how true the saying is “it takes a village to raise a child” and I’m so blessed to have such an incredible village that love my children as their own. It feels like although I wonder daily were we crazy to have our kids so close together my heart also feels fuller than ever before. I love my little family of 4 and know the craziness (or some of it) will eventually pass!